First Baptist Church of Wheaton officials failed to convince area residents that its revised plan to build a sanctuary on Emory Church Road is compatible with their rural community.

Representatives of First Baptist Church of Wheaton met with members of the community Oct. 27 as a prerequisite to filing a preliminary plan for subdivision and site plan for the project, which they propose to build on a 14.3-acre parcel of land at 3110 Emory Church Road.

Paul J. Newman, civil engineer for the project, said the church is required to file its plan with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission within 60 days of the meeting.

Newman presented changes to a plan shared with the community in January 2008, most notably that the footprint of the 46,000-square-foot building has been reduced because most of the structure will now be two stories in height instead of a more sprawling mostly one-story structure.

"It's more compact now," he said. "Part of the building used to be two stories, but now most of it is."The number of parking spaces has been reduced from 277 to 228 and the amount of impervious surface has been reduced from 21 percent to 18 percent, he said.

Newman said the changes were based on comments from Park and Planning after submitting the pre-application plan as well as feedback from the community.

"This is the very first step of the review process," Newman said. "There will be more opportunities for residents and agencies to make additional comments and we will review all of them."

Newman said construction should take 12-13 months start to finish.

Residents living in the vicinity of Emory Church Road have banded together to voice their opposition to the relocation of First Baptist Church to their quiet neighborhood, arguing that such a project does not fit the character of the tree-lined, rural road, which at places is not wide enough for two vehicles to pass simultaneously.

At the meeting, residents voiced concerns about how the project will affect the quality of their well water, the disturbance to the environment and traffic.

"While this seems less onerous than the previous plan, I don't think these concerns have been addressed," said resident David Reile, whose home is adjacent to the property and who filed a lawsuit alleging that the County Council violated state law when it granted conditional approval for a water/sewer category change for the site. Reile and his wife, Barbara Suddarth, have filed an appeal after the Montgomery County Circuit Court ruled the decision was proper. "This will destroy the quality of our neighborhood, and nothing has dissuaded me that this project is acceptable."

Sharon Dooley, president of the Greater Olney Civic Association (GOCA), expressed displeasure that after several invitations representatives from the church have failed to present their plan to the civic association.

"It seems to me they are going forward with their plans and presented them to the immediate community only because they were required to," she said. "They are not taking the community's concerns into consideration."

Dooley said the issues of the environment, water quality and traffic affect the broader community, not just residents of Emory Church Road.

In June, GOCA voted unanimously to oppose the project because of concerns that the project would cause an excessive amount of traffic, is not in keeping with the Olney Master Plan and would create a parking lot in the middle of a residential community.

The project is contingent on the approval of extending public water and sewer up from Georgia Avenue to the site. The existing homes are served by private wells and septic systems.

The County Council in April 2008 granted conditional adoption of the water/sewer category change subject to a condition that the Planning Board approve a preliminary plan that conforms to the intent of the Olney Master Plan.

However, the Olney Master Plan, adopted in 2005, recommends that water and sewer not be extended to this property.

First Baptist Church is located in a 53,000-square-foot building located at 10914 Georgia Ave. in Wheaton, and serves a congregation of 400 people.

Church officials have previously stated that the move to Olney is a result of inadequate parking at its Wheaton location and the need to be more centrally located to its parishioners.